A hotel employee is facing charges in connection with the sudden death of Liam Payne after the One Direction member fell from a hotel balcony in Buenos Aires, Argentina, on Wednesday.
According to TMZ, police in Argentina believe the 31-year-old pop star took a substance called “crystal” before her death. Sources say the drug can cause psychotic attacks, hallucinations and aggressive behavior.
“There appears to be evidence that a hotel employee supplied Payne with drugs,” said a source at Argentina’s National Criminal and Prison Prosecutor’s Office. People. “There could be an indictment for drug distribution soon.”
The circumstances of Payne’s death are still under investigation, although prosecutors have said they suspect the singer “was experiencing some sort of substance abuse episode.”
In a public statement translated from Spanish, prosecutor Marcelo Roma said he was specifically looking into who supplied Payne with the drugs they say he was taking.
According to CNN, six people who saw Payne in the hours before his death spoke to local authorities on Thursday. They include Payne’s manager, three hotel employees and two women who were reported by Argentine news site La Nacion as escorts.
The women reportedly told police they were with the British singer in his hotel room but did not see him taking drugs. They said they arrived at the hotel around 11:30 a.m. but left at 4 p.m., about an hour before Payne died. The prosecutor’s office also stated that “everything indicates that the musician was alone at the time of his fatal fall.”
His girlfriend, Kate Cassidy, had been traveling with him in Argentina for about two weeks, but returned to the United States on Monday, according to reports.
Payne fell to his death shortly after 5 p.m. at the CasaSur Palermo hotel, just minutes after the receptionist called 911 for help, saying a guest was “destroying” his room and was believed to be “under under the influence of drugs.”
Authorities said that according to the preliminary autopsy report, the singer “jumped from the balcony” of his third-floor room, suffering multiple injuries that led to his immediate death.
Buenos Aires police later released photos allegedly taken from Payne’s hotel room, showing items including aluminum foil, a lighter and traces of an unidentified white powder. The substance has not yet been confirmed because drug authorities say it was in Payne’s system at the time of his death.
Payne has previously spoken out about his struggles with drug and alcohol abuse, telling fans in a July 2023 YouTube video that he was nearly six months sober after spending 100 days in rehab.
British tabloids reported that in July the singer checked herself into a rehab center again, but left the 30-day program after just a few days. – New York Daily News/Tribune News Service
